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It is questionable whether the law firm tasked with reviewing the Rugby Football Union’s controversial bonus payments will have time to read the Rugby Football League’s latest annual report.
Some might say that this would be like comparing apples to pears, arguing that rugby league’s peak in terms of national prominence and financial strength was in the 1990s and early 2000s.
But one thing is certain. Rugby league has been a professional game for much longer than union and is arguably 30 years ahead in dealing with the financial challenges that are now catching up with rugby union.
Rugby union may have won the financial war in the short to medium term, thanks to the financial strength of its international game compared to league, but there are growing concerns that rugby union simply cannot continue to live beyond his means.
Its directors are desperately looking to the United States or the Middle East for financial salvation, while a small group of investors see the answer more radically in the creation of a new world order with a separatist global league.
Brett Robinson, the newly elected president of World Rugby, used his first speech to highlight rugby union’s financial woes, having seen his own union, Rugby Australia, lurch from one financial crisis to another in recent years .
“There is a really huge problem, that of the collapse of our unions,” he said. “It’s the cost of our players that really puts pressure on our cost bases. We need to be very serious about this.
Robinson may also wonder if the game can also bear the costs of its administrators.
Powerful envy Super League broadcast deal
In 2002, the Rugby Football League imposed a salary cap of £1.8 million, on top of previous financial restrictions of limiting teams to 20 players paid more than £20,000, which was known as 20/20 rule. The move was seen at the time as a controversial decision, given that Super League players were increasingly becoming the target of rugby union’s new wealth.
However, almost 25 years later, the Super League still has 12 clubs (unlike the Premiership, which has fallen to 10) and offers a broadcast mix that is the envy of rugby union, in part thanks to a partnership 12-year strategic partnership with an international sports agency. IMG, which was signed early last year and resulted in the creation of RL Commercial, a joint venture with the RFL.
When the Wigan Warriors beat Australia’s Penrith Panthers in the World Club Challenge to become de facto world champions of the sport for a record fifth time in February in front of a sell-out crowd of 23,500, the event was broadcast live in the UK on the BBC, as well as on Sky Sports and the new SuperLeague+ platform, which broadcasts internationally.
This year the competition attracted a total of 1,493,753 fans to 162 matches, an average of 9,221 spectators per match.
In comparison, the 2023-24 Premiership, reduced to 10 teams following the liquidation of Wasps, Worcester and London Irish, recorded a total attendance of 1,428,276 for its total of 93 matches, an average of 15,358 per match.
The glaring difference appears when comparing the salaries of the two leagues. A leading rugby agent who has worked in both codes for more than 20 years estimated that the average salary for the top 20 Super League players would be around £75,000, with the highest earners hitting the £350,000 mark at £400,000.
Premiership Rugby’s latest salary cap report, for the 2022-23 season, says the average payment for flyhalfs was £217,761, while the average salary for a ‘high-profile’ player excluded from the cap was £510,005.
But what about the respective governing bodies of the two codes?
The RFU said the legal review of Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) bonuses will examine the “origin, design, implementation and communication” of the scheme which was introduced in 2021 to recognize the material and voluntary reduction of remuneration during the tax period. pandemic and to motivate the management team to achieve multi-year objectives.
It is unclear whether this involves comparing the extent of largesse to that of other national governing bodies. But the contrast with the Rugby Football League is certainly telling.
The RFU executive explained its record £37.9m deficit on the basis that last year was a World Cup year, when the cost of attending the tournament coincided with the loss lucrative fall test matches.
They are said to have suffered “expected” losses, but that does not explain the need to make 42 redundancies in September and to have left staff facing effective pay cuts this year with the removal of “allowances”. daily”. The latest annual report also states that the governing body faces an “underlying and ongoing operating deficit challenge”.
The RFL report shows they also recorded a deficit “mainly related to depreciation and unforeseen costs relating to the closure of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, which took place in autumn 2022”.
The difference? The RFL’s “group loss” totaled £53,000 (with a positive cash balance of almost £6 million).
At this stage, RFU leaders will no doubt highlight the difference in the respective turnover figures of the two governing bodies. The RFL’s turnover for 2023 was £15.03m, down from a record £42.15m the previous year, when England hosted the World Cup . In contrast, RFU’s turnover was £175.2m in 2023-24, up from £221.4m the previous year.
But what about the contrast in executive compensation? RFL’s annual report states that “group personnel costs” have been significantly reduced from £7.66m in 2022 to £4.77m in 2023.
Sweeney package eclipses total cost of RFL directors
The RFU’s annual report says total remuneration paid to “key executives” increased from £2.8m last year to £4.9m. The increase is partly due to “the payment of the long-term incentive plan which represents £1.3 million and the increase in the number of executive directors”.
This means that the RFL’s overall personnel costs were less than what the RFU paid its management team of chief executive Bill Sweeney and five directors.
And what about the remuneration of RFL leaders? It was reduced from £686,000 in 2022 to £287,000 in 2023. “It should be noted that in 2022 this total included a provision of £245,000 for compensation for the loss of office of the former director General and Regulatory Director,” the RFL report states.
This means the £358,000 LTIP bonus Sweeney received (taking his total package to £1.1 million) alone would have more than covered the costs of the entire RFL directors’ team in 2023 .
Thirty years ago, the Rugby Union was clamoring to emulate rugby league’s superior professionalism in coaching, ball control and defensive organization on the field. Perhaps it is time to learn some lessons within boards as well, before it is too late. Rugby league may be a much smaller sport, but at least it lives within its means.
